AUTISM, ADHD, ADD, etc - SUPPORT GROUP!


Hi Angeline, currently I am set to hold a social playgroup session at Potong Pasir since it's nearer to all the kids in that particular session. So if it's location issue we can work something out and make things more convenient for all. Cheers
happy.gif
 
Hi mommies,

Anyone using Touchchat ? I want to know if it is beneficial for asd kids ? Any feedback are welcome : )
 
hi momto3

i dont know about touchchat but i use Proloquo when i teach my clients with communication issues. its easy to navigate which is always a plus!
 
Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that sg conversations is having a session on the education system in Singapore. One of the topics to be discussed is "Ensuring Opportunities, Social Mobility, and Inclusion".

If you a parent with a child in or about to be in the mainstream education system, this is a good time to share your views and suggestions on how the system can accomodate our kids.

Click here to sign up:
http://moe.gov.sg/our-singapore-conversation/
 
Hi All Mummies, 
I'm an Indonesian mum living in SG with my family for a long time. I have friends who consulted a Singaporean therapist to help with their children's issues - adhd, asperger,autism,speech and behavioral. 

I have seen the miraculous changes in the children under her. Her fees are very high but if you are looking for help, you can write to me to get her contact. Please be prepared to wait though as she only takes a couple of children at any one time and bookings are always full.
 
Hi Scrumpee and Caramel, I'm so happy to share with you that I managed to find a place for my son though I have chose to disclose his ASD condition. It's been a humbling experience and I'm literally close to begging the principals. You would be surprise how many of these principals changed their tunes after hearing "ASD" and a previous reply of "we have immediate vacancies" become a "we are reviewing our class schedule". I'm not too sure if my son is being compromised because his mother has chosen to tell the truth. But I know in my heart this phase is just the beginnging of many struggles he and I have to undertaken against the Singapore education system

But lets not take away my joy for the moment as his acceptance has shown that there are also a lot of good hearted educators out there that are keen to emphathise and learn about ASD.

Many thanks for your encouraging words and sharing your experience!
 
Hi Angeline,

Glad that you found a place for your son - and I don't think he is being shortchanged at all! When you are honest, it shows others and your son that ASD is nothing to hide or be ashamed of, which is a good thing
happy.gif


Hope everyone has a good week ahead!
 
Hi Angeline,

That's great news! Having educators that know and accept autism makes all the difference in the kind of support your child receives in class. Good luck on your journey ahead!
 
Angeline
Congrats! Its a great new beginning for you and your son. Is it a CC or a kindy?

And to the CC that says they have vacancy only to change to 'reviewing class schedule', what did u say to them?

I feel that the CC should just be frank that they are not able to handle instead of giving all kinds of stupid excuses to brush u off. Personally, I rather they be frank about it.

Moving forward, you will need to get daily feedback from the teacher of his class and ask her what difficulty did she face when teaching him so that you can bring this to your therapist and ask advice. Thereafter, share the advise with his teacher so that she can also implement it in the class.

And actually, after telling them frankly about your son's condition and they are willing to accept him, the feeling is very very good right?? Cos if anything happens, the school won't accuse u of hiding and you can share your suggestions with them to manage your kid. Most imptly is, you don't have to hide and help your kid to come up with excuses for his behaviour.
 
Hi Angeline
It is great to hear that.
Very important to let the teacher in charge know about your son so that they can pay more attention to him and provide you with constant updates.
 
Hi

Any feedbacks for the following schools?
- kits4kids @ telok kurau
- st George care corner
- YWCA @ marine drive
- psc @ Tampines

For speech therapy, do u ve any idea is it acceptable for the therapist to use physical contact in getting eye contact? Like using his/her hand to close child mouth to stop him fr echoing and flicking child's ear to ask him to listen? Holding child's chin up to can give eye contact or holding child face with left n right hands to ask child to give eye contact while talking? I'm feeling rather uncomfortable when I saw the therapist doing that to my 5yr old son. The therapist also corner my son against the wall while seated on chair, using the table to corner him so he can't get up or move elsewhere while therapist talks n does work with him.. This is First session.
 
Usually pte therapy dun let us go in..but kkh n sgh dont do that.usually sgh kp teaching us parents n not child..n kkh kp doing test..n asked me go out.but maybe u tell therapist u feel uncomfortable.n asked if this is usual practice
 
Cyn,

Regarding your concern abt the ST, those ST that we r using never have such physical contact with my boy.....

I have been using pte st all along n they wanted our presence with the kids so that we can watch, learn n follow up the method at home.
 
Hi Cyn,

No, I feel the therapist should not do that as it will even agitates or scare the kid. My boy previous therapist used toys to attract him for eye contact.
 
Cyn
I used to have a therapist who will use her left and right hand to lightly cup my son's face to make him look at her. Or hold his chin up. Personally, I don't find it disturbing as long as it works or she is not to hard on him. I know you are being protective and anxious about your boy, but I think we need to observe a while more and give the therapist time. As long as the therapist is not physically abusing your kid, I think just monitor.
 
thanks for the replies.. the thing is I have seen how my son other therapist (private) and the st at nuh works with him and both don't do that and also they don't advise so. the nuh st told me before eye contact shld be as natural as possible, the private therapist use diff method at getting eye contact like pointing to something or pausing for a few seconds while doing something etc. in fact the private therapist has a asd son as well and she said her son pickup the touching of his chin n sides of his face when his teachers try to do that, he actually do it on himself instead repeatedly many times a day, it went on for months.. this current therapist I'm asking here is fr the new sch he is attending so its the first session and when I saw I was caught by surprise.. I wasn't sure is it actually advisable.

how abt the schools I mentioned above.. any feedback?
 
Hi cyn
The ST I engaged with, did use her thumb and index finger on my son's cheek to open my son's mouth to make an "AH" sound when putting a tool into his mouth.
In order to make him sit for 60 mins, I have to bring his favourite toys and snacks and she will apply the ABA approach.

MY Home tutor did sit very close to my son which lead him unable to move out of his seat.
I myself did use table to block him while prompting him to do table tasks.

You will have to monitor the therapist; as long as is not rough, I guess results will show if therapist uses the correct method.
 
Hi cyn

Is the therapist making your son uncomfortable?

I haven't seen my ST deployed those techniques you mentioned in your post. Most of the time this private ST will go with my son's flow and converse with him spontaneously. To get his attention, my ST used many toys and books to engage my boy. Except for massaging my son's face, she does not have much physical contact with him. Personally I feel that you can feedback your concerns to the ST if you are uncomfortable. Afterall we usually have a long term working relationship with them and it is important for both parties to respect each other's wishes and listen to each other's views. This way the child will benefit the most. Previously I was awed by these therapists' titles and experiences that I do not dare to express my concerns to them. However, as I understand my son's expressions and habits very well, I began to feedback my views to the therapists after a year. My son's OT initially felt that he is verbal and chose to verbally prompt him and not use PEC card to instruct him. After she spent a lot of time instructing my son (around 15-20 min in 45 min OT), she accede to using PEC and schedule I have prepared in OT session.

Hence its best to keep communication open.
 
Cyn, I can share some of my experience and research here as I also hunt high and low for schools since my son is 2.

kids4kids@telokkurau - this is HQ but my son went to cck branch. the teachers and therapists are quite experienced. very good communications with teachers and a lot of field trips. The issue here is that my son is verbal while his classmate is not.

care corner st george is mainstream but care corner at toa payoh has a special needs programme

psc at tampines - do you mean PCS Prebysteriam Community services? PCS run a ICCP programme that accepts special needs child into mainstream childcare. You would need to apply to CEL and waiting list is very long when I check with them previously
 
YWCA at marine drive is also mainstream

In my recent experience with mainstream childcare or kindergartern is that it would depends if the class is full as well as the willingness of the principal to give your child a chance.
 
I just saw that the special needs care corner is at Tampines http://www.carecorner.org.sg/ets.html

The programme looks more geared for older children though the School Readiness programme may be what you could be looking at.

If you are looking at mainstream childcare, a couple of parents has shared with me some of their schools - CherieHearts, Ace@work, Kinderland, Eager Beaver

Most of the time it would be good if you can drop by after checking on vacancies and have a chat with the teachers and principals. Ask them for a trial period and see if they give your child a chance.
 
louise - I can understand if child is non compliant then using the table to corner may work but apparently the therapist use that method as default instead of assessing to see does my child need it or not.

Angeline - yes the st did made my son feel uncomfortable. but I think I will not engage this st, I so happened to know another parent who tried this st and she too has some terrible experience (unacceptable ones). I wanted to take on to this initially bcos of the substantial reduction in st fees as compared to my son private st. but looks like its not going to work out..

the schools I am asking here is bcos im going to apply thru CEL for the ICCP and the last 3 are the options given to me to choose before they can submit the application. St George care corner and YWCA do ve ICCP now but the number of special need children in each class is v small.

I recently pull my son out of his mainstream kindy bcos of the terrible teacher who tried to hide the injury she inflicted on my son (according to her was accidental). I accept the "accidental" part but not the cover up part. anyway initially it was a gd sch until teachers changed, principal changed, etc. I have enough of all these crappy mainstream kindy (he was rejected and neglected before fr other 2 mainstream kindy), u are lucky if u can get one who is really nice and sincere in helping your child.. but pray teachers n principal don't change!!

So I have just placed him in a special need kindy now. teachers seem nice but there are some dodgy things going ard and the hygiene level in the sch is really unexpected since I have been to so many kindy. i'm at lost of what's best for my son, he is coming 6 this yr (in K1 now), CEL is chasing me bcos the applications need to be done b4 6 yr old.. I cant wait beyond 6 to decide if I need CEL help with ICCP, nobody will take him in..

I'm very scared of making the wrong move for him, there is no turning back. he is also attending eipic in the pm 2x wk now.
 
cyn here
if time is running out for you, just go with the ICCP. Be it St George or YWCA. You can actually do down the schools to pay a visit right? I just feel that the more you think or procrastinate, the more doubts you will have.

For me, when I choose the kindy for my son, I did a round of internet search, then made a trip to the schools and decide immediately thereafter. The school that I selected didn't have much reviews online and even if there are, not very favourable. But I just trust my instinct based on the conversation I had with the Principal. And more imptly, there is vacancy for him and the Principal is willing to accept him.

U mentioned that St George Care and YWCA has small numbers of special need kids, is it better? at least the teachers can concentrate their efforts on your son. I will be concern if there are more special needs kids in the class. What is your plan for him? to go mainstream or special school during P1, that will also help with your decision making.
 
cyn,very important that you must have confidence that the ST is doing the right thing. If mothers shared bad experiences with the same ST, I definately choose to believe and not wait till I encounter it.

There are good and lousy teachers in any school and you will never be able to know what is best for your son. Only God knows. Ask and seek him to lead you to make the decision. Even the good teachers in the school may not coach our children permanently.

My son just started with St Gerard last week.
If Hygiene is my priority, the school FAILED totally. BUT, looking at the ratio and the attention given (1:2) - I accepted St Gerard and my son will be given a chance to mix with the mainstream children once he is ready for classroom setting. Now, I am not so stressed as compared, when he was with Cherie Hearts, worried that he will pinch / bite his peers due to high ratio.

My son's ST from Chatterbox (Singapore Shopping Center)
I have confidence in her although her rates are very high.
 
Hi imrouge

I would highly recommend Ms Jacqueline Phang from Yakkety Yak. She has done a great job on my son and she's more than a speech therapist to me. She's concerned with every aspect of my son's welfare. However, she "demand" parents to take a proactive role in speech therapy. Not only must you be present at the session you are also required to practise the lesson taught at home. The waiting time for her is very long but its well worth it. Tel 65708622 email [email protected]
 
Hi cyn

I can totally understand your anxiety and concerns. Before we look at ICCP and see if any of the centres are suitable, perhaps you might need to look at some hard facts: what stage your son is at and your expectation for him after he turn 7?

CEL has advised that ICCP is not a centre specially designed for children with special needs. Rather it would include specific numbers with special needs children within a large group of typical children. Hence if your child is verbal and you are thinking that he could go to mainstream primary school. Then I would think that ICCP is definitely first step to help him towards a mainstream school environment and curriculum

However, if he has problem communicating or sitting down for long, then perhaps he would need to get more lessons in speech or OT before he can fit into ICCP. In this situation, it might be better for him to remain in a special needs kindy where therapy can be administered and there are special needs trained teachers to accommodate him. When he's about ready, then a School Readiness report can be written for him so that the next mainstream school can understand his levels and his needs.

There is this assessment at age 5 or 6 that would determine if the child is suitable for mainstream primary school. And if you intend for him to go to a primary school, then its best to look at the areas he need to catch up on now and provide the necessary therapies or environment.
 
Hi Cyn,

I have a school preparation program running. do PM me if you are interested to know more. I can understand if your therapist manipulates the environment like cornering him if he dashes off frequently but he/she will need to explain it to you and work quickly to address the leaving his seat issue as cornering is not a solution. i do not agree with getting physical to get eye contact or flicking of ear to listen. sounds quite harsh to me! for eye contact we usually start with putting a toy the child likes close to our eye level to direct his attention to our eyes and praise when we get that eye contact. with repeated trials you shld be able to increase eye contact without intrusive physical prompts .
 
I fully agree with letstalkautism, my therapist that works with my kids has never physically manipulated my kids. Cornering a child is no way acceptable. Sounds archaic !

Using hand signals and eye movement with stimulus works.

My son has started to look me in the eye after 2 years of not doing so.

My heart melted.

happy.gif


Kudos to positive therapist!
 
Hi Hi,

I am new here. M daughter has ASD (moderate). Need an OT. Heard Hand in Hand is good. Anyone has recommendation on which OT in Hand in Hand is good or any others in another place? Thanks in advance.
 
Sue there is a play group at potong pasir keen to join? There is a therapist guidingthem. Can contact me by pm me..thanks
 
I knew this therapist here ans she is very nice and patient therapist..n she charges fairly reasonable rates.so if you,all keen to form grps can contact her..
 
Y I choose social play as my child has speech but he hardly talks in sch and he needs to learn turn taking behavior and I really want to hv at least 2more kids to join us to form a grp..thanks
 
Hi good try and sue, I have social groups that are ready to start in July 2013. We are located at upper Thomson and our office is fully equipped with games and activities for the children. In addition the groups are run by 2 ABA therapists and each child will have his/her individualized social targets plan. Please pm me for more information if you are interested. Thanks!
 
Hi Sue, I tried to pm you but you don't accept pm. Would love to share with you more regarding the social playgroup. Please feel free to pm me or we can even have a chat over the phone. Thanks for your interest.
 
Hi, I think it will be good to consider social playgroups, ST as well as biomedical interventions. I think the biomedical component is neglected which is a bit of a pity. Recently also found this website: www.autismsingapore.com which seem to explore many different therapies for autistic children...
 
Hi! Any parents whose kid are studying in k4k and child is attending the holiday program at amk br for this week!!!
 
hi

I would like to seek your advice.
Besides getting a referral from Polyclinic to KKH/NUH, is there anyway we can get an assessment to see if the kid is ADHD?

Thanks.
 
hi

I would like to seek your advice.
Besides getting a referral from Polyclinic to KKH/NUH, is there anyway we can get an assessment to see if the kid is ADHD?

Thanks.
 
Yes you should that is the cheapest way.if not if you go pte centres it mighbe costly. however some parents prefer no record and go pte.
 
Does anyone have a recommendation for doc? I need a gastro specialist to check my son. His chronic constipation has not gotten much better despite diet and medication. Any help is appreciated!
 


Try Dr Nancy from sbcc gleneagles . She is a specialist in gastro. My dd used to have chronic constipation too. Take heart that you are doing everything to help your son, and he is also trying his best. Things will be better soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
New Divorcee harassed by ex husband
Replies
5
Views
949
Mikiyoki
M
B
Cheating Spouse
Replies
4
Views
3K
vanilladrops
V
A
Sudden Closure of Bubs and Tots Swim School (Indoor Heated Pool @ Punggol safra)
Replies
0
Views
199
arwadever
A
T
Divorce?
Replies
10
Views
672
Tracer
T
M
Ifc consideration.
Replies
1
Views
503
EK1990
E

Back
Top